Gaël Monfils has entertained tennis fans for more than a decade with his balletic athleticism and his penchant for the occasional trick shot. He might hit a ball through his legs for no compelling reason, jump off the back wall to retrieve a ball, or dive while reaching for a drop shot.
But in 122 minutes on court Tuesday, he displayed virtually none of that, other than one body-bending slide early in the match. Instead, Monfils remained mostly upright, and a vast majority of his shots were the stuff of a technical tennis manual rather than a YouTube highlight reel.